Where do salad dressings get their names? | HowStuffWorks Where do salad dressings get their names? NEXT PAGENEXT Although manufacturers introduce new flavors all the time, many consumers stick to their longtime favorites in salad dressings -- ranch, French, Italian, Caesar, blue cheese and Thousand Island -- and many of the dressings available in stores and restaurants are variations of these. Most of the dressings you use either are creamy and have mayonnaise as a base ingredient or are oily and have salad oil as a base ingredient. The herbs, spices and other flavorings are added to make a certain kind of dressing. Up Next Which Italian dish is which? Here are some of the favorites: Thousand Island dressing was named for the Thousand Island region of upstate New York, where the dressing originated. The region, along the St. Lawrence Seaway and Lake Ontario, is a popular spot for fishermen and hunters and for other tourists. The key ingredients in the dressing are mayonnaise and chili sauce, which is made of peppers and tomatoes. The tiny chunks in the dressing are finely chopped pickles, onions, olives and hard-cooked egg. Ranch dressing actually originated on a ranch -- the Hidden Valley Guest Ranch near Santa Barbara, Calif.

According to the Hidden Valley Web site, the owners made a dressing with herbs, spices and buttermilk in the 1950s, and the dressing caught on with their guests. The dressing was sold as a dry mix that you combined with buttermilk and mayonnaise or sour cream. Now, the Hidden Valley brand appears on several varieties of bottled ranch dressing in supermarkets. It's also a very popular dip for vegetables or chips. The "ranch" flavor that is added to chips refers to the buttermilk taste that is associated with ranch dressing. French dressing is apparently an American invention. There are several different recipes for French dressing. Most of them use ketchup, oil, vinegar and paprika. A similar dressing is called Russian, which often has chili sauce as an ingredient. Italian dressing gets its name from the seasonings found in it -- oregano, basil and garlic mixed with olive oil and wine vinegar. Blue cheese dressing is sometimes referred to as Roquefort dressing, but Roquefort is a particular kind of blue cheese made of sheep's milk. It comes from the town of Roquefort in southwestern France.

Regular blue cheese, a crumbly cheese that also has blue veins of mold, is made from cow's milk. The cheese is mixed with creamy ingredients such as mayonnaise, sour cream, buttermilk, milk or yogurt and often with vinegar and some spices. Caesar dressing comes from Caesar salad, a popular item on many restaurant menus. You will hear two different stories about the origin of the name for Caesar salad. One story is that it was named for Julius Caesar. Another story is that Caesar Cardini, an Italian immigrant to the United States, developed the salad dressing in the 1920s for his restaurant in Tijuana, Mexico. Caesar salad dressing is made of oil, lemon juice, raw egg, parmesan cheese, herbs and spices. Some recipes contain anchovy filets, too. Anchovy plays a role in the unique taste of another salad dressing with an interesting name, Green Goddess. Recipes for this dressing call for mayonnaise, anchovy fillets or paste, vinegar, garlic, green onion, parsley, chives and tarragon.

The name apparently honored George Arliss, an early 20th century actor who was known mainly for his portrayal of Benjamin Disraeli, the British prime minister. Arliss appeared in a play titled "The Green Goddess," and a San Francisco chef named a new salad dressing after the play. Vinaigrette is a generic name for a salad dressing that uses oil and vinegar as its base and adds herbs and spices. There are many variations of vinaigrette, and it is popular because it can be lower in calories and fat than dressings that use mayonnaise. If you read the labels on dressings in the grocery store, you will find that they almost always have a high fat gram count, unless they are "low fat" or "fat free." If it is important to you to watch your fat intake, then you will look for low-fat or fat-free varieties. But remember that if you are counting calories, the low-fat and fat-free flavors will probably have the same calorie count as high-fat flavors. And if you want to reduce your calorie intake by eating fresh vegetables in a salad, you need to watch the calorie count in the dressing, too!

Here are some interesting links: A Thousand Islands of Summer -- National Geographic A Thousand Islands of Summer Traveling between the U.S. and Canada is easy via the international bridge. Photograph by Will van Overbeek, National Geographic By Patrick J. Kelly From the May 2010 issue of National Geographic Traveler Escape to a place that is foreign, even mythical, yet right on America’s doorstep. My know-it-all neighbor across the street from my home in Texas assured me that there was no such place as the Thousand Islands. "It's a salad dressing," Gary said, nodding toward the creamy condiment I'd brought to his barbecue. "Does anybody know where the Thousand Islands is?" I'd asked the group assembled in the backyard, asserting that it sounded like a mysterious wonderland worth checking out. "You can't go there," Gary insisted, as if he were speaking to a five-year-old. I ran home, went online, and returned five minutes later holding up a printout. "Renowned as the freshwater-boating capital of the world," I read to the group, "the Thousand Islands is an archipelago that straddles the U.S.-Canada border in the St. Lawrence Seaway.

And," I took a breath, "Thousand Island dressing is the only salad dressing that is named for a geographic location in North America." I waved my bottle of dressing for dramatic effect. "Great," Gary said. "Maybe you should move there." I'm thinking of a suitable souvenir for Gary as my flight touches down in Syracuse, New York, where I rent a car to begin my trip to the Thousand Islands. I've been wanting to get away to somewhere foreign but not too distant and a place where, ideally, English is widely spoken. The Thousand Islands—like Atlantis or Shangri-La—seems foreign enough, even mythical, and right at America's doorstep. From Syracuse, I'll head north 98 miles to the Canadian border, ending up about 30 miles from where Lake Ontario empties into the St. Lawrence River, which flows east toward the Atlantic. The international border zigzags through the Thousand Islands, never touching land, with New York state on one side and the Canadian province of Ontario on the other.

Here, where a branch of the Canadian Shield runs south to meet the Adirondacks, lies the "Thousand Islands-Frontenac Arch" region—designated a UNESCO World Biosphere Reserve in 2002. The islands range from about 50 square miles to the size of a carport and, to be counted in the group, must stay above water 365 days a year and support at least one living tree. Considering that some 1,800 islands have made the cut, I've decided to limit my exploration to only the principal islands and riverside towns. I'll start in Alexandria Bay, New York, and work my way west (upriver) to the bayside village of Clayton, continuing west along the U.S. shoreline to Cape Vincent, overlooking the lake. Then I'll hop a ferry across the bay to Kingston, Ontario, push east along the Canadian shoreline to Gananoque, Ontario, then hook up with the Thousands Islands International Bridge to cross back to the U.S. mainland, completing a whirlwind, clockwise tour of this 50-mile stretch of the St. Lawrence.

Along the way I'll take in Wellesley and Grindstone (the two largest U.S. islands), Wolfe Island (in Canadian waters), and a dozen or so smaller isles. I'll try to cram in what a week off from work will allow and, I hope, not get lost any more than necessary. Crystal clear water, vivid green forests, 90-degree sunshine, and streets swarming with pirates greet me at my first stop, Alexandria Bay, situated on the south bank of the St. Lawrence. The village (year-round population: 1,800) is in the throes of its annual, ten-day summer bacchanalia dedicated to legendary pirate Bill Johnston. In 1838, Johnston notoriously boarded, robbed, then sank a British riverboat within musket range of what's now a modern town known for its dive shops, upscale rod-and-tackle stores, and handsome, tree-lined neighborhoods. I have time before the pirate parade to board a sight-seeing boat departing for a scenic tour of Millionaire's Row.

During the late 19th century, movers and shakers of the Gilded Age flocked to the Thousand Islands, building grand hotels and summer vacation homes complete with docks for their hundred-foot steam yachts. Among this early group were George Pullman of railroad sleeping car fame; Henry Marcus Quackenbush, inventor of the double-hinged nutcracker and the Daisy Red Ryder BB gun; the Kellogg family, who brought us Frosted Flakes; and George Charles Boldt, proprietor of New York City's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. He commissioned a six-story, 120-room, Rhineland-style castle on Heart Island for his wife, Louise. Five-acre Heart Island, not far from Alexandria Bay, got its name after George Boldt spent a king's ransom fashioning the island and docking facilities into the shape of a heart. We stop to tour Boldt Castle. Picture a medieval European castle upgraded with plate glass windows, wrap-around verandas, an indoor pool, an elevator, and a steam power station. Wistful Enya music emanating from the ballroom drifts out to the Italian gardens and children's playhouse. I'm reminded of the Taj Mahal, impressive yet tinged with sadness.

Louise died unexpectedly in 1904 while the castle was under construction, putting hundreds of stonemasons and craftsmen out of work. George Boldt never stepped foot on Heart Island again. The tale brings a tear to my eye, which I hide behind a pair of sunglasses bought in the gift shop. Back in Alexandria Bay for the parade, I see tractors towing wooden skiffs tarted up to resemble pirate ships, sea wenches singing bawdy sea chanteys, classic and not so classic cars, and the ubiquitous weekend Harley riders in love with the sound of their own motors. The highlight, for me, is the Brockville Infantry Company, a crack drill team decked out in 1860s-period uniforms, hailing from Brockville, Ontario, about 18 miles east of here, across the bay. The Canadians halt, load, then fire their muskets in unison, prompting involuntary screams from spectators. I'd like to help the revelers close down the pubs, but I've booked an early morning fishing trip in Clayton, New York, about 12 miles upriver. "Head down main street and turn when you see the kayaks," Captain Clay Ferguson tells me over the phone.

Next morning I'm aboard Ferguson's vintage 1951 Chris-Craft Day Cruiser Hard Top, 27 feet of polished mahogany powered by a 440-cubic-inch Chrysler V-8 engine. We're motoring through a sport fishing paradise, home to black bass, northern pike, walleye, and the muskellunge, or muskie, a prehistoric-looking creature weighing up to 70 pounds, with a mouthful of needlelike teeth. "You don't fish for muskies," Ferguson says. "You hunt them." Ferguson is a second-generation fishing guide with 44 years of experience. Back in the day, he tells me, wealthy families would arrive in the Thousand Islands by steam train with mounds of luggage that would be loaded into skiffs and rowed to their respective summer homes. In 1938, a new bridge connected the two countries, and more and more tourists began arriving by car. Ferguson's hometown of Clayton, the geographic center of the region, gradually switched from lumber and shipbuilding to tourism—diving, kayaking, waveboarding, sailing, skiing, and riding motorized personal watercraft—has increased.

We're drifting between Grindstone and Wellesley Islands on the U.S. side. "Some of my childhood buddies, farm boys, used to live on these islands," the captain says, but today, the dairy farms are long gone. Some 39 percent of eight-square-mile Grindstone Island is protected by the Thousand Islands Land Trust. Visitors can hike and camp at the two state parks—Canoe Point and Picnic Point—on the northeast corner of the island, accessible only by boat. Wellesley Island, covering 15 square miles, has two parks and three golf-course country clubs—and is accessible by rental car. Maybe I should've booked a tee time instead of gone fishing. The highlight of our chartered trip is the shore dinner, a guide-prepared meal that's supposed to feature the client's catch of the day, which, in my case, poses a problem. So far, fishing neophyte that I am, I've caught nothing, despite several instances in which the captain hooked me a whopper and handed me the line. "Don't stop reeling!" the captain booms.

"Jeez, that was another 18- or 20-inch pike you just lost." He pulls out his secret weapon, a red-and-white-striped, daredevil spoon lure. (Evidently, if you can't land a northern pike with this lure, you may as well take up knitting.) An agonizing hour later I say, "Can't we just eat the fish you caught?" In short order the captain is standing before a blazing wood fire at Picnic Point preparing a made-from-scratch meal unlike any I've ever had. "Here ya go," he says, handing me the appetizer, a hot, deep-fried fatback and onion sandwich on white bread. "More cholesterol than ten sticks of butter, and I only use raw Vidalia onions from Georgia," he boasts, as he throws our specially breaded northern pike into an iron skillet of flaming fatback grease.

The main course includes boiled salt potatoes, steamed corn on the cob, local curd cheese, thick slices of Italian bread, and a freshly tossed garden salad with, you guessed it, Thousand Island dressing, original recipe, as in the original recipe, the one Sophia LaLonde dreamed up in Clayton back in the early 1900s. LaLonde was the wife of a local fishing guide who, according to legend, first served the dressing to clients during their shore dinner. Eventually, George Boldt got a taste, added the dressing to the menu at the Waldorf, and the rest, as they say, is salad bar history. (Talk to someone in Alexandria Bay, however, and you get a different version of the legend.) Dessert today is French toast with cream and thick maple syrup, washed down with flame-brewed cowboy coffee fortified with raw eggs, crushed shells and all. The feast is capped off by a double shot of Jack Daniels to aid digestion and to allow our arteries to function long enough to haul the leftovers and solid iron cookware back down to the boat. I give it five stars.

With Captain Ferguson playing harmonica and singing along with CD music, we enjoy a leisurely cruise to the spacious dock of the Antique Boat Museum in Clayton. The museum's waterfront campus covers 4.5 acres of public program space; extensive archival holdings; and most impressive, a collection of more than 320 antique and classic pleasure boats ranging from eight-foot St. Lawrence skiffs to the 106-foot La Duchesse, the fully restored, Gilded-Age houseboat built for hotelier George Boldt. The museum's "Quest For Speed" exhibit chronicles the 80-plus-year history of powerboat racing, a sport defined by high horsepower and near-suicidal speeds. I'd no idea that race boats built around here were approaching speeds of a hundred miles an hour in 1929. At the main exhibit hall, I meet Robyn Lewis, membership coordinator. She shows me the Suwanee, a 1909, custom-built racing launch more than 31 feet long and only four feet wide, crafted in swooping lines with a white cedar hull and mahogany decks and ribbed with red elm. It reminds me of a war canoe, with motor.

"Man, I'd like to have known the daredevil who bombed around in this thing," I say. "Let's call him," Lewis says. Tall, slim Bob Cox, 92, bought Suwanee from its original owner in 1955 and donated it to the museum in 1996. At the moment, he's working the throttle of the Split, his current 28-foot race boat (another classic), as we power away from the museum's dock for a sunny afternoon tour of the islands. "I used to race this thing from Fort Lauderdale to Nassau in the Bahamas," Cox shouts over the roar of the engine. "But my doctors put a stop to that silliness." I ask Cox to take me to Zavikon Island, actually a pair of tiny islands connected by a footbridge touted by tour guides as the shortest international bridge in the world. "That's a big fat lie they've been telling tourists since the 1880s," Cox says, pulling out his laminated charts to show me that both islands are clearly in Canadian waters. I glance at the map then look up at the gigantic lake freighter that's at twelve o'clock and closing.

The pilothouse on this monster looks to be about 15 stories above the water when Cox nudges the wheel a few degrees to starboard, and the freighter glides past for what seems like a full minute. Cox drops me back on the dock of the Antique Boat Museum and points Split toward open water. I watch as his rooster tail disappears into the sunset. Back in the rental car, I head west along the scenic Great Lakes Seaway Trail, which parallels the shoreline, to Cape Vincent, where the St. Lawrence River meets the open waters of Lake Ontario. The historical district in this picturesque village has some outstanding examples of colonial architecture, including my ideal of the dream home. The front yards alone take my breath away. From Cape Vincent I take Horne's ferry into Canadian waters to Wolfe Island, which, at 48 square miles, is the largest of the Thousand Islands. The border checkpoint resembles a whitewashed bait shack with the Canadian flag snapping proudly in the wind. I answer a few perfunctory questions ("Are you carrying any weapons, firearms, ammunition?") and am on my way.

But as I pull out of customs, I miss the turn for the ferry to Kingston and embark on an unintended tour of the island, until I run out of road at the water's edge on the easternmost point of land. That's when I know I'm lost on Wolfe Island (sounds like a Hardy Boys adventure). No matter. I like it here. The 1,400 or so island residents enjoy rolling farmland and meadows, plenty of acreage between homes, the occasional jogger or cyclist, and a blissful air of remoteness. For visitors, there are B&Bs, inns, and nature tours. Besides, I'm not lost. I can see Canada just across the bay. I get directions from a kid on a mountain bike and drive to Marysville, on the north side of the island, where I catch the next ferry to Kingston. Canada's first capital and now part of Ontario's only UNESCO World Heritage site, Kingston was originally a naval port strategically located at the convergence of the St. Lawrence and Lake Ontario. Fort Henry, a 19th-century British fortress, overlooks Kingston's busy downtown waterfront.

I beat a classic Studebaker to the last available parking space and join the cosmopolitan crowd gathering among the flowers and fountains of Confederation Park as a live band sets up on stage. I catch snippets of conversation in a dozen languages, including some guy speaking Brooklynese as he jaywalks across four lanes of traffic: "Hey, can't yooz sees I'm walkin' over he-yeah!" Judging by the number of art galleries and restaurants in the downtown area, the nightlife in Kingston warrants further study. But I've grown accustomed to the smaller river villages, where the focus is on the water. Kingston, population 117,000, is just too, well, sophisticated. I feel like a river rat out of its element here. I surrender my prime parking space, head east toward the 1,000 Islands Scenic Parkway (the Canadian version of the Seaway Trail), and follow the road signs to Gananoque, which proclaim that it's "a destination that's safe, friendly, and good." That's a reasonable characterization of the Thousand Islands in general, though the Canadian side seems slightly more relaxed and less commercial, with less traffic, than its U.S. counterpart.

Saturday night action in "G-Town" (I mispronounced "gan-an-ock-way" so badly the locals offered an abbreviation) is centered around Stonewater Irish Eatery and Pub. I order Guinness and poutine—jumbo French fries buried in white cheese curd, topped with beef gravy, and served molten hot in a casserole dish with a side of vinegar. "Heart attack on a plate," the waitress says. I have to raise my fork several feet above my head to get the cheese to behave, but the dish is delicious. Now I'm ready to go shovel snow or fall on the couch to watch some hockey. I know why the well-heeled of yesteryear picked the Thousand Islands for their exclusive playground: They couldn't find a more ideal place to spend their summer vacation. Fortunately, you no longer have to be rich to have the Thousand Islands experience. The brochures of things to do and sights to see overflowing from my rental car are proof of that. My whirlwind tour of multiple islands, it turns out, was highly unusual.

A fishing guide explained that most folks pick a favorite spot—be it vacation home, summer rental, or campsite—that they return to year after year, and that this can go on for generations. Eventually, I did find mine. I won't say where, but it involves my idea of a dream home overlooking a tranquil stretch of water. So far, I'd managed to avoid buying souvenirs. That changed the following morning when I entered Island Memories Restaurant and found myself surrounded by an acre of tchotchkes. The place had it all, including the perfect souvenir for my geographically challenged neighbor, Gary­—a Thousand Islands—themed cookout gift set: tablecloth, place mats, chef's apron, and matching grill mitt. I can't wait to crash Gary's next BBQ and present him with this thoughtful souvenir from the islands that don't exist. And I hope I have an audience. Contributing editor Patrick J. Kelly and photographer Will van Overbeek also collaborated on “Nashville Cat” in our March issue.

A Thousand Islands and One Heart - latimes A Thousand Islands and One Heart Charles Hillinger's America November 26, 1989 |CHARLES HILLINGER | TIMES STAFF WRITER HEART ISLAND, N.Y. — Thousand Island salad dressing was named after the Thousand Islands, a group of islands scattered along a 50-mile path of the St. Lawrence River that separates New York State from Ontario, Canada. There are actually 1,800 islands in the archipelago, a third in the United States, two-thirds in Canada. Of all the Thousand Islands, Heart Island is perhaps the most intriguing. Its legacy is a fascinating but sad love story. It was purchased at the turn of the century by millionaire George Boldt, the manager of the Waldorf Astoria, who set about having the 5-acre island dredged in the shape of a heart as a demonstration of his love for his wife, Louise. Then from 1900 to 1904 Boldt employed a work force of 300 men to construct a replica of a 6-story, 120-room German castle in the middle of the island.

To furnish the castle, the Boldts made several trips to Europe, spending a fortune on statues, paintings, tapestries, furniture, rugs, mosaics, dinnerware and carvings. Boldt had hundreds of hearts carved on the exterior and interior of the castle as expressions of his great love for Louise. By 1904 some $2.5 million had been spent on the structure. The exterior was about complete, and masons, electricians, carpenters and painters were busy on the inside when a telegram from Boldt arrived at the castle, instructing the workmen to lay down their tools. Their job was done. That was the day Louise Boldt, 45, died of consumption. The castle stood vacant, unfinished. Boldt never set foot on Heart Island again. He died in 1916. The castle slowly deteriorated over the years until 1978 when the Thousand Islands Bridge Authority, operators of the 8-mile international bridge connecting the United States and Canada and crossing over to the islands, purchased Heart Island and the castle. For $3 the bridge authority allows visitors to tour the Heart Island grounds and see the inside of the castle.

Shane Sanford, who manages the island, reports that $4 million have been spent in stabilizing and restoring the castle the past three years. "We expect it will take at least another $5 million to bring the castle, the grounds and the other structures on Heart Island to the condition they were in when Mrs. Boldt died," Sanford said. At the turn of the century, many of America's wealthiest families had mansions on these islands, including the Kelloggs of breakfast food fame, the Heinemans of Buster Brown Shoes, George Pullman of railroads sleeping cars. President Ulysses S. Grant vacationed on Pullman's island. More than 300 of the islands are less than an acre, big enough only for a home and a dock. Just-Room-Enough is one of the the tiny one-house islands. Lone Tree Island has a house and one tree. Paul Quackenbush, 53, has the only house on Friendly Island where he lives year-round. It's 2.1 acres. Ships from all over the world sail within a few feet of Quackenbush's shoreline home.

"We can almost reach out and shake hands with the captain on the bridge of the large ships, sailing from England, France, Italy, Russia, China, from all over the world to Great Lakes ports," said Quackenbush. "My two sons, Pieter, 5, and Tony, 9, amuse themselves by keeping a log with the names of the ships, where they're from, when they went by. We wave to people on the ships. They wave back. Sometimes a ship will blast a long and two shorts--which means hello--as they go by the house." Quackenbush commutes to work by motorboat except during the winter months when he walks across the frozen river the quarter mile to the mainland. The St. Lawrence Seaway is not open December to April when the river is full of ice. Larry Cuppernal and his wife, Catherine, moved to Grindstone, one of the larger islands, 13 years ago. "We came here because we didn't want our kids growing up on the streets with drug problems," explained Cuppernal. They have eight children who range in age from 10 to 22.

Until last year Grindstone Island, with 50 year-round residents, had the only one-room schoolhouse in New York. But it closed when enrollment fell this fall to two. It's two miles from the island to the mainland. "During the winter, the weather gets snotty, 45 below zero, blizzards. The river is full of ice. So from December to April our kids live on the mainland near school and come home weekends, weather permitting. The school board provides room and board for them to stay with friends," said Cuppernal. Real estate broker Natalie Honeywell in Alexandria Bay on the New York mainland noted that there are always islands and shoals for sale: "Shoals are little more than huge rocks that are under water part of the year. Shoals sell for as much as $8,000 to $10,000 each. There are about 100 shoals in the thousand islands group.

People like the idea of having their own private shoal to tie up a boat and hold picnics." Honeywell has individual islands, with one home and a dock, for sale ranging from $250,000 to $800,000. Salad Dressing - Inspire Inspire May 13, 2005 at 2:09 pm 7 replies ** Originally posted by ScottM ** Ever wonder how salad dressings got their names? Thousand Island dressing was named for the Thousand Island region of upstate New York, where the dressing originated. The region, along the St. Lawrence Seaway and Lake Ontario, is a popular spot for fishermen and hunters and for other tourists. The key ingredients in the dressing are mayonnaise and chili sauce, which is made of peppers and tomatoes. The tiny chunks in the dressing are finely chopped pickles, onions, olives and hard-cooked egg. Ranch dressing actually originated on a ranch -- the Hidden Valley Guest Ranch near Santa Barbara, Calif. According to the Hidden Valley Web site, the owners made a dressing with herbs, spices and buttermilk in the 1950s, and the dressing caught on with their guests.

The dressing was sold as a dry mix that you combined with buttermilk and mayonnaise or sour cream. Now, the Hidden Valley brand appears on several varieties of bottled ranch dressing in supermarkets. It's also a very popular dip for vegetables or chips. The "ranch" flavor that is added to chips refers to the buttermilk taste that is associated with ranch dressing. French dressing is apparently an American invention. There are several different recipes for French dressing. Most of them use ketchup, oil, vinegar and paprika. A similar dressing is called Russian, which often has chili sauce as an ingredient. Italian dressing gets its name from the seasonings found in it -- oregano, basil and garlic mixed with olive oil and wine vinegar. Blue cheese dressing is sometimes referred to as Roquefort dressing, but Roquefort is a particular kind of blue cheese made of sheep's milk. It comes from the town of Roquefort in southwestern France. Regular blue cheese, a crumbly cheese that also has blue veins of mold, is made from cow's milk. The cheese is mixed with creamy ingredients such as mayonnaise, sour cream, buttermilk, milk or yogurt and often with vinegar and some spices.

Caesar dressing comes from Caesar salad, a popular item on many restaurant menus. You will hear two different stories about the origin of the name for Caesar salad. One story is that it was named for Julius Caesar. Another story is that Caesar Cardini, an Italian immigrant to the United States, developed the salad dressing in the 1920s for his restaurant in Tijuana, Mexico. Caesar salad dressing is made of oil, lemon juice, raw egg, parmesan cheese, herbs and spices. Some recipes contain anchovy filets, too. Anchovy plays a role in the unique taste of another salad dressing with an interesting name, Green Goddess. Recipes for this dressing call for mayonnaise, anchovy fillets or paste, vinegar, garlic, green onion, parsley, chives and tarragon. The name apparently honored George Arliss, an early 20th century actor who was known mainly for his portrayal of Benjamin Disraeli, the British prime minister. Arliss appeared in a play titled "The Green Goddess," and a San Francisco chef named a new salad dressing after the play.

Vinaigrette is a generic name for a salad dressing that uses oil and vinegar as its base and adds herbs and spices. There are many variations of vinaigrette, and it is popular because it can be lower in calories and fat than dressings that use mayonnaise. Advertisement 1000+ images about 1000 Islands on Pinterest | Thousand islands, Islands and The 1000 Forward BEST U.S. BOAT RIDE: Thousand Islands -- New York's Thousand Islands region seems made with nautical tourism in mind. Glass-topped catamarans, triple-decker cruise boats and majestic paddlewheelers ply the waters, taking visitors past Boldt Castle and the mansions of Millionaire Row, Kingston Penitentiary and Fort Henry, all while offering interesting insight into the history of this scenic destination. See More More to Thousand Islands than salad dressing More to Thousand Islands than salad dressing March 7, 20128:25pm Email a friend FOR more than a century, Thousand Island dressing has been drizzled on to salads and seafood around the world but do these islands actually exist?

On a cruise up the St Lawrence River, I discovered that the name wasn't dreamt up by some advertising whiz-kid. As our boat approached Lake Ontario, where the wide river forms the border between Canada and the United States, the islands began to appear. All 1800 of them, give or take. They are scattered across an archipelago stretching about 90km. Early last century, the super-rich of North America built their opulent summer lodges, even castles, on the larger ones. As we sailed by, our captain took to the loudspeaker to explain the history of the eponymous dressing. It was the concoction of a local woman, Sophia LaLonde, whose husband George led fishing trips for the well-to-do. One of his clients was Mae Irwin, a leading actress of the day, who apparently enjoyed the salad dressing during Sophia's picnic lunches rather more than the actual fishing. To Mae, the finely chopped ingredients resembled the islands. She invited another summer resident, George C. Boldt, to sample it and he too was bowled over.

Boldt happened to own New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel and ordered his famous chef, Oscar Tschirky (inventor of the Waldorf salad), to add this humble creation to the menu. Boldt so adored his wife, Louise, that he bought her one of the largest of the Thousand Islands, transformed it at great cost into the shape of a heart and proceeded to build her a castle so big it needed a workforce of 500. On the day she died unexpectedly in 1904, he abandoned the whole project and never returned. The ruins were bought for a dollar in 1977, are slowly being restored and are a tourist attraction. For me the islands, still a top getaway destination with holiday homes ranging from shacks to mansions, were a highlight of a 14-night cruise that started on the St Lawrence in Montreal and ended nearly 1600km later, sailing down the Hudson River to New York. Our floating home was the Grande Mariner, built in 1998 and a few metres longer than an Olympic swimming pool. On board is accommodation for up to 96 passengers, a one-sitting dining room, a lounge and large sundeck.

Meals were basic and wholesome, cooked on board with none of the flamboyance of some European river boats. Cabins were on the small side, with ample storage space under the wonderfully comfortable beds. Each cabin had its own, limited-capacity hot water tank. We were advised to switch on and wash down, switch off and soap/shampoo, then switch on again and wash off before the water cooled. And it worked. We joined the Grande Mariner in Montreal, a city that isn't all it seems. Deep winter snow and hot summers led to the creation of another Montreal, underground, where about 30km of subterranean walkways house 1200 shops, eating places and entertainment venues that are used by 100,000 people every day, no matter what the weather. After calling at the lovely walled city of Quebec (no recession here, said our guide proudly, and no unemployment) and witnessing the spot where General James Wolfe died during the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, came disappointment. The captain was forced to cancel the next leg of our voyage, out towards the Gulf of St Lawrence where whales abound, as a storm was blowing.

Instead, we turned inland and climbed through the huge locks of the St Lawrence Seaway until we reached the Thousand Islands. Though we didn't visit Boldt's unfinished castle on Heart Island, the Grande Mariner tied up at the jetty of nearby Dark Island and we explored a fully completed one with a sewing machine in every room. The mock-Gothic edifice was built in 1904 by the president of the firm that made them hence Singer Castle. From the islands, our voyage took us across the southern tip of Lake Ontario and down the Oswego Canal to join the mighty Erie Canal, the 570km engineering masterpiece that links the Great Lakes to the Hudson and the Atlantic Ocean. The Erie Canal is no longer the important trade route it once was but, as a leisure resource, it's hard to beat and it saved its most spectacular feature until the end the Waterford Flight, a series of five locks dropping 50m in 3.2km. From there we entered the Hudson River and 225km downstream New York City awaited.

On a glorious morning, we sailed the length of Manhattan Island, round the Statue of Liberty, past Ground Zero where the new One World Trade Centre is halfway to becoming America's tallest skyscraper, and tied up next to the QE2's old pier. Go2 THOUSAND ISLANDS Getting there From the west of Ontario take the 401 east to interchange 659, then turn right and follow the road until the end, which brings you to the Thousand Islands Parkway and the Thousand Islands Bridge. Turn right for Ivy Lea and Gananoque or left for Rockport and Brockville. From the east of Ontario take the 401 west to interchange 659, then turn left and follow the road until the end which brings you to the Thousand Islands Parkway and the Thousand Islands Bridge. From New York State take I 81 Highway north to the Thousand Islands Bridge. Cruising The Thousand Islands: St. Lawrence River continues to cast its spell BY GARY MAY and LINDA MONDOUX So, you think you know what an island is. How about 1,000 islands?

The Thousand Islands (not the 1,000 Islands, as they are referred to in some places), are a world-famous archipelago strewn along an 80-kilometre stretch of the St. Lawrence River, starting around Kingston and divided between Ontario and New York state. Despite the name, there are in fact 1,864 islands in the group, but someone wisely decided the Thousand Islands sounded better. The largest is Wolfe Island, at about 100 square kilometres, on the Ontario side, reachable by ferry at Kingston. One of the smallest is called Just Room Enough, and provides space (or just room enough) for a single cottage, a tree and some shrubs. There are exactly 1,864 islands in the Thousand Islands — most of them privately owned — because that’s how many meet the requirements set back in the day by the Canadian and American authorities. They decided that in order to qualify for island status, a piece of real estate had to remain above the river’s surface all year long, be larger than one square foot (or 930 square centimetres) and be occupied by at least two living trees.

No island is split by the international border — islands are either on the Canadian side or the U.S. side. The most famous is Heart Island in Alexandria Bay on the American side. The island is home to Boldt Castle, constructed by George C. Boldt — who at the time owned New York City’s Waldorf Astoria Hotel — as a show of love for his wife, Louise. The 120-room Rhineland-style home was abandoned four years into construction, in 1904, when Louise died suddenly. A broken-hearted Boldt never returned to the island, and the castle fell into disrepair. The Thousand Islands Bridge Authority acquired the property in 1977, and began the slow and painstaking task of bringing the castle back to its original splendour, a labour of love that has transformed it into a tourist attraction, though the work continues today as funds become available. You can stop by to see the castle on one of the many boat tours of the islands (don’t forget your passport!).

You can also visit the Boldt Yacht House, on Wellesley Island, the new home to the 1892-built Kestrel, a 63-foot steam yacht similar to those that were popular on the St. Lawrence River at the turn-of-the-century. Millionaires Row With all the construction of luxury homes in those early years, the Thousand Islands became known as Millionaires Row. Many expensive estates still exist, and tourists aboard the tour boats plying the river throughout spring, summer and fall eagerly crane their necks to catch a glimpse of how the rich and secretive live. But mostly, the Thousand Islands are a quiet place of beauty, where huge ocean-going vessels and lake freighters still sail majestically past the islands on their way up and down the Seaway. Experienced Seaway pilots manoeuvre the ships through the tricky series of shoals and rocks that make navigating the St. Lawrence a challenging task. The islands are actually a neck of the Canadian Shield, which connects the main shield section in Ontario to a secondary portion that’s represented by the Adirondack Mountains in New York state. There are several interesting facts attached to the islands. For example, the famous Thousand Islands salad dressing is named for them.

Former Clayton, New York, resident Sophie LaLonde is credited with concocting the dressing and serving it to guests of her husband, who was a popular fishing guide at the turn of the 20th century. Clayton hotel owner Ella Bertrand and New York stage actress May Irwin got hold of the recipe, and Irwin passed it on to George Boldt to serve in his famous hotel’s dining room. Clayton is one of the main island-area communities on the American side of the border, and is home to another significant area attraction, the Antique Boat Museum. The museum’s galleries boast more than 300 preserved boats and thousands of recreational boating artifacts. You can try your hand at sailing or rowing on Tuesday evenings until Aug. 28: the museum throws its doors open to the public once a week for some free in-the-water time using its own fleet of small craft. Another story linked to the islands is that Deer Island is actually owned by the Yale University-based secret society, the Skull and Bones. The society dates back to 1832 and counts among its members both George Bushes and U.S. Senator John Kerry.

While the island is still held by the society as a rustic retreat, recent visitors have been quoted as saying all that’s left is a bunch of stone ruins. Among the Canadian communities along the islands are Kingston, Gananoque, Rockport and Brockville. Inspirational setting The Great Lakes, including the Thousand Islands region, are known worldwide for their many well-preserved shipwreck sites, thanks to cold, fresh water that is capable of keeping many sunken vessels in stunning condition. Edie Benish, who owns Seeway Vision Dive Charters in Brockville with her husband, Kevin, says the Brockville and Rockport areas are considered “the best freshwater diving in the world” because of the quantity and quality of the wrecks, good visibility up to at least 70 feet, an even temperature from top to bottom and currents that make every dive unique. Tony Dekker, lead singer and songwriter of the indie band Great Lake Swimmers, fell in love with the beauty and spirituality of the Thousand Islands, and the band recorded many of the tracks on the Lost Channels album at Brockville, Rockport and Singer Castle on Dark Island. Lost Channels refers to a passage in the St.

Lawrence where a reconnaissance boat from a British warship went missing in 1760. The story of what happened to the ship remains shrouded in mystery to this day. While the ship is not specifically mentioned in the lyrics, they are filled with dramatic images of raging waters, howling winds and dark night skies. You can catch Great Lake Swimmers in concert in Kingston on Sept. 22. For $8.99, you can fly along the St. Lawrence River and explore the Thousand Islands via your iPad, all while listening to a Great Lake Swimmers soundtrack. Pilot-turned-photographer Ian Coristine, who last year teamed up with the band for a show in Brockville, has been capturing the beauty of the Thousand Islands in all seasons for many years, after a chance flight to the area from Montreal in 1992.

He is now the steward of Raleigh Island, whose story is told in the memoir One in a Thousand, a new eBook co-written with Donna Walsh Inglehart, chronicling the journey that Coristine says “fundamentally changed my life.” One in a Thousand, hailed as “the most sophisticated interactive eBook,” describes the challenges of acquiring Raleigh Island, the restoration of an abandoned cottage, and Coristine’s adventures in the air and on the water as he immersed himself in a new, unexpected career. The interactive book, available in the iTunes app store, includes an 85,000-word text set in a stunning layout, videos of his flying adventures, nature sounds from the river, an interactive map and hundreds of his best images embedded in the text, in galleries and in automated slideshows set to unpublished instrumental tracks from Great Lake Swimmers. 'Rare, magical place' According to Coristine, “It has become my life’s work to celebrate and help protect this rare, magical place.” Want to visit in person? Before heading out on a cruise, don’t forget to drop by the mainland St. Lawrence Islands National Park’s visitor centre.

Located on the riverfront at Mallorytown Landing on the Thousand Islands Parkway between Brockville and Gananoque, it’s a great spot for a scenic picnic or an easy hike. There’s also a boat launch here, so if you have access to a boat, more than 20 island properties in the St. Lawrence River between Kingston and Brockville are open to the public for swimming, hiking and camping. If your summer is already booked up, there’s still plenty of opportunity to visit the Thousand Islands this year: the St. Lawrence River in early fall is simply stunning! MyNewWaterfrontHome.com — August 2012 Islands and castles draw tourists to St. Lawrence River region - USATODAY.com Islands and castles draw tourists to St. Lawrence River region Posted 8/1/2006 8:58 AM ET E-mail | Print | ALEXANDRIA BAY, N.Y. (AP)  Even the name of the Thousand Islands region in the St. Lawrence River between New York and Canada is an understatement.

Once a playground for the rich who built castles as monuments to themselves and their loved ones, the region is dotted by hundreds more islands than its name would tell. Some say the number is more like 1,700, while Paul Malo, who has written extensively about the region, says the number is 1,860 "or thereabouts." Others believe it depends on how islands are defined. "They generally have to have a tree on them," said Malo, a retired professor of architecture at Syracuse University in central New York. Like oversized skipping stones, all manner of islands sprinkle the St. Lawrence River. The rocky upheavals covered by pine trees are large or small, some with sizable communities, others with no more than a tree and a house. Some are home to striking castles dating to an era of conspicuous wealth, grand hotels or whimsical and Victorian-style homes. Islands named Howe and Carleton, Grenadier and Bostwick, and even assemblages of islands such as the Admiralty Group of 64 islands give visitors great views of the river and other islands and plenty of opportunities to hike or boat.

The islands also provide an obstacle course for endlessly moving river channels and passageways with names such as Fiddler's Elbow, Lover's Lane and Molly's Gut that eventually make their way to Lake Ontario. The region has gone through many transformations. It was a draw for French fur trappers in the 17th century and served as a battleground during the War of 1812. That story is told at Sackets Harbor Battlefield, which was the center of U.S. naval operations on Lake Ontario. Less than 100 years later, the Thousand Islands region became a destination for New York City residents who traveled by overnight train to nearby Clayton. "They'd go from a train to a yacht," Malo said. The area was attractive to the wealthy during the Gilded Age following the Civil War when industry grew rapidly and financiers and industrialists became vastly rich. The Thousands Islands, due to its proximity to Canada, also was used by bootleggers during Prohibition. The region now draws tourists to view the handiwork of the long-gone superrich.

Visitors, for example, line up for a quick ferry ride to Heart Island and a tour of Boldt Castle, a spare-no-expense palace built at the turn of the 20th century by George Boldt. Boldt, the proprietor of the original Waldorf Hotel in New York, is credited for introducing the idea of elite hotels. According to one local legend, Thousand Islands salad dressing was created by Boldt's steward while sailing on Boldt's yacht one day. The mayonnaise-based dressing has long been served at the Waldorf. Boldt's six-story, 120-room Italian Renaissance-style manse includes tunnels, a powerhouse, Italian gardens and a drawbridge. The sudden death of Boldt's wife in 1904 prompted him to order a halt to construction, four years after work began. Dark Island is home to Singer Castle, named for Singer Sewing Machine Co., the employer of Frederick Gilbert Bourne who built the estate for his family. The 28-room castle includes a medieval entranceway with knights of armor standing guard beside a marble fireplace, a marble stairway, a walnut-paneled library with a secret panel connecting to passages in the walls and grates to spy on guests built into the walls.

Not all the homes are so grand. Many are modest dwellings that simply provided residents with easy waterfront access and natural beauty. Thousand Island Park on Wellesley Island is known for its spacious clapboard homes, many with large front porches. The first generation of Americans to have second homes settled on Wellesley Island early in the 20th century and many homes have gone through preservation efforts, contributing to a renaissance of the park, Malo said. Turreted homes and gingerbread-style cabins replaced Methodist campsites at Butternut Bay, one of several sites in the region organized as a religious camp in the 19th century. Nature has provided its own shelter in the region's aquatic environment. Lush, grassy reed beds along shorelines protect pike, bass and carp while cattail marshes serve as nurseries for fish, waterfowl, reptiles and amphibians. Public recreation places and nature preserves have been established in Canada and New York. The St. Lawrence Islands National Park includes 21 sites on more than 20 islands and in Canada. On the other side of the St.

Lawrence River are 14 New York state parks, several on islands accessible to boaters, but most others that can be reached by car. The Minna Anthony Common Nature Center, the largest nature center in the region, offers three miles of shoreline and a 600-acre preserve at the Wellesley Island State Park. The nature center, which is accessible by car, includes a natural history museum, 8 miles of hiking and skiing trails and a canoe program. Because of its distance from New York the region is not well-known, Malo said. But to residents and those who have spent decades of summers on the islands, the attraction to the region is no mystery. "We think there's something special about it," he said. Copyright 2006 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Posted 8/1/2006 8:58 AM ET

Question: Which salad dressing is named after an archipelago in the St Lawrence seaway?
Answer: Thousand Island